RE: Roadtrek - water and sewage
We had a 96 RT Popular for years and the arrangement (same as you describe) was never a problem. Overflow, if any, just ran down the door panel and outside and never created a problem inside the coach.
As to the sewer, never a problem and it was convenient.
Personally, having used that RT for six years prior to trading, I never even thought of the issue your raise. Fill for one of the tanks in our 2007 210P is inside the drivers door and inside the rear door, very similar to our 96. Again, no problems IMO.
RE: Worry about discrimination because of little "B"
Our experience has been that a lot of folks in big fivers and diesel pushers always want to talk and look longingly at us when we just pull into and out of a campground. And, since we boondock a lot, they just can't go where we go. Envy is what we normally find in conversations. A lot of people get the big eye and the big rig and then just find they are not comfortable driving or pulling those puppies. We tried a 25 foot Class C for a few years and felt like we were driving a box of crackers eight feet wide and eleven feet high.
B4me!
Mid 80s Horizon
I saw a Horizon today. I haven't seen one in years! In the mid 80s we bought a Horizon, the short version (2500 series van) to the larger Falcon that is occasionaly mentioned in this forum.
It was on a Chevy and was the same color as the one we owned. We bought ours in 85 and sold it in 90. Ours was on a Dodge. The Horizon and Falcon were really neat Bs.
This baby looked like it needed a little TLC, but with a little work could have been a classic. It was in the very back of the lot of the Nissan service area of a large, multiline dealer here in Oklahoma City. I would not have seen it had I not been going down an alley to get to the Chevy parts department's rear entrance down the street. I went in and inquired at the Nissan service desk and the service manager came over. He said they had taken it in on the cash for clunkers program!
It broke my heart to think what was going to happen to it. The body had few dings and the paint was more faded than bad. The chrome was great as was the glass. The front bubble windows on the overhang showed no sign of crazing. Most of the rv parts are interchangeable with the Falcons. What a loss of some great parts, if nothing else.
So, for 4500 bucks, this baby is going to the crusher, I guess. It had a Fiama "automatic" awning. I am not familiar with that model, but there was no visible place to use a crank, so I wonder if it was "automatic" and powered? The interior showed a little wear but looked surprisingly OK through the window.
I thanked the guy for his time and drove sadly away. A real classic that brought back great memories of the Black Hills, Utah Canyonlands, Grand Tetons, Rocky Mountain National Park, Yellowstone and all the other wonderful places we went in our Horizon twenty years ago.
RE: Roadtrek macerator hose replacement
booster did what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, by the time I had the "removal incident" I wasn't presentable enough for a trip to Lowes for the parts. Next time, I think I will follow his setup. That is what is needed: the ability to replace the hose at the storage box area, not six feet away under and around the frame members.
Also, I forgot to mention the final insult. After the replacement experience, I made the short 3 mile trip to the Flying J truck stop for their free dump to test my workmanship. I have used their facility for ten years. This time, the rv dump was plugged. Not completely, just sorta plugged. SO, not knowing this and no sign to tell me, I started pumping with great delight that my handy work was satisfactory. Until the stuff started running out of the top of the hole and all over. I thought it was my equipment at first blush, but quickly realized it was just another incident on a not so good morning of the Dump Story.
Roadtrek macerator hose replacement
The macerator hose on our three year old RT 210 just came all to pieces while on a trip last week. I mean, I turned it silver with duct tape trying to hold it together until we got home. Just like glass, once it started to break it just broke in several places in a few days.
Today was the day! Beautiful, cool day perfect to replace that puppy. I had researced the job in the archives and thought I was ready. My advice is simple: if you don't have a pit or a place to put it on a lift, just pay the guy to do this job.
I lifted the front end six inches using my 2 bys I always use and it was really crowded under there. What a mess. This thing was NOT engineered to be replaced or worked on with ease. What I thought would take an hour took three. What I had not counted on was the hose being full of something awful that proceeded to squirt all over me, my tools and my driveway.
What a mess! A six foot piece of one inch hose can hold a lot of you know what. Should have just been gray water, but apparently there was also a problem with the black tank valve and it had leaked a little after I thought I had evacuated it, at least as much as possible with my duct taped old hose.
Lesson learned: if you ain't got a lift the removal of the macerator rock protector and the circuitious path of the hose up and around the frame is really a task, even after my six months diet.
It would have been so easy when installed by RT to have put a four inch nipple from the pump through the protector and to use a hose that was of higher quality in the first place.
I saw more flys in three hours than I have seen in my yard in three years. I think they buzzed all their relatives from Dallas to Wichita to come to Oklahoma City and enjoy.
Try this repair at your own peril. Glad I have had my hepatitis shots.
RE: Too Many Campers
We are just back from over three weeks spent in CO and NM, all in NF campgrounds. We have gone to some of these places for 30 years. This year, was crowded until later in August when the kids all went back to school. Then, particularly in Colorado in the forests near the Front Range, the weekends were just not for us. The "young urban professionals" just flood the places and have a different sense of being than my wife and I find comfortable. Loud, all about themselves. Now, that of course is a generic statement and certainly not true of some and true of others as old and older than us. But, it is a different kind of camper running out from Denver, Colorado Springs, etc. on Friday and hauling out on Sunday. Many of the NF campgrounds that have reservations were reserved for Friday and Saturday nights and probably half were no shows. If they change their plans, apparently they don't call but just block the space, at least for the first 24 hours.
We decided we will go back to our old habit of going to the Rockies only after Labor Day in future years. No crowds and less folks but lots of places open for most of the month. The fall is just a great time to travel, if your schedule allows that timng.
I don't mean to be an old goat of 65 with my Golden Age pass, but the folks doing a lot of the camping are just not there for what most of us go to National Forests to find. So be it. We will just adjust our schedule, a great benefit of being, as we Okies say, "Retared".
Gosh, I only had to work 45 years to get to this point!
RE: Two weeks in a Class B
My fondest memory of our Horizon was taking out the mattress and using that whole area for storage. The sofa seems comfortable in my memory and I suspect it was or i would remember it. Our only objection to the coach was that it had a poor center of gravity and swayed. Now I think it was probably just the Dodge and if I had known about all the stuff you can do to correct that I would have proably kept it many more years. We loved its layout and size.
RE: Two weeks in a Class B
Heading up to Coolerado next week for three weeks in our B. Back in the 80s we had a Horizon, the little brother to the Falcon. Are those the only Bs ever made with a tub? It was a neat design IMO.
I got to thinking about it and maybe it is just my lack of knowledge, but I don't remember seeing a tub in any other Bs. By the way, ours was a couple of feet shorter than a Falcon and it was on a Dodge.
RE: Hitch Mounted Cargo Carrier Perfect For A 'B'
I bought one of these things at Walmart a couple of years ago and modified it to fit my 210 P Roadtrek. I shortened the side next to the continential kit by about half and reinforced it. I use it to carry bulky but not heavy stuff. It cost $59.95 and took a couple of hours to modify. I carry a 10x10 screenhouse, a 10x10 piece of outside patio carpet (the thinnest and lightest I could find), a fold up 4x2 patio table, a 6 gallon camp water container and a few small items on it. I calculated the difference in the weight distribution and simply carry less than 100 pounds (83 to be exact and, yes, I weighted it being very conservative and anal about these things) on the carrier and have no problems with it at all. It only sticks out a few inches beyond the spare.
I looked with lust at the Stowaway, but on a RT with a continental kit, it starts at the end of the spare, thus is way out there behind. I just didn't want to be that long and bulky. The stuff I carry frees up my external storage drawers.
We boondock and when we get where we are going for a few days, I take it off and chain it to a tree with a lock. Then we can use the RT for touring the area.
I have thought and thought about the Stowaway, but I just can't see that much of an extension to clear the spare and according to their site, the right door on a RT will only open, as I recall, 30 degrees with this thing swung open. I think it is much greater on a PW.
So, the cheap way works well for us. We cover the stuff with a plastic tarp and tie it down to the platform and off we go.
Leaving in a week for several weeks in the Rockies and this will be how we will carry that extra stuff you always want. I just hate having "junk" inside the rv when going down the road.
RE: Chevy Van
Yep, I remember that one for sure! In 1982 we bought a bright red, new Chevy 20 with the idea of making it into a travel van. Played this song and another "Our Chevy Van" I think it was called and converted that puppy myself in August in the Oklahoma heat. Nothing like stuffing walls with fiberglass batting inside a stripped van in 100 degree heat. Put a couch that made into a bed across the back (just like the Bs today, but sure not as nice). I lined the roof with ash panels and carpeted the walls and floor which is what you did in the 80s, all the time playing those songs. Porta potty and a small refrig along with a five gallon water supply and we were in business. Went all over the country in it.
Years later bought a Horizon (17 foot same as a Falcon, but shorter) and kept the Chevy van, stripped out the conversion and used it as a hauler for years.
Gave it to the Salvation Army in 2004 and still miss it!
RE: Run gen while on road?
I have always been curious why folks do that with a B. I live in a very hot part of the country and the dash air cools our Roadtrek just fine. That has been my experience in all four Bs we have had over the last 25 years. Maybe it is necessary in Arizona or somewhere, but the heat index is often over 100 here and I never have had to resort to supplementing the dash air.
RE: Price Shopping for a New B
Davydd has articulated my experience very completely. I have never bought a rv from a local dealer and never returned to the selling dealer for any services whatsoever. Both of our Roadtreks were purchased from dealers that were out of business within a year of our transaction and...so what??
This thread did cause me to take notice of something and that is current prices. Since our 210P is just a couple of years old, I am certainly not in the market. But I did cruise around a bit and look at prices and wow! Clearly, the economy is evident in the pricing.
For example, an Oklahoma City dealer (with big operations here and in the DFW Metroplex) has an ad in the local paper today with a 2009 Winnebago B (Sprinter, I don't know their models) with a list of $97,596 and a paper offering price of $69,997. Almost 30% off for starters. I have never been able to even get them to the starting gate in my few calls to them over the years. That tells me there must be a lot of deals out there. And I noticed that at least one manufacturer of (pardon the phrase, I know it is verboten) B+s, Phoenix Cruiser, is now selling direct from the in process inventory in the factory. That says a lot.
Davydd said it best. These things are descretionary and you can really pick and choose. I would have no problem buying from the big B dealers, like in St. Louis or New Braunfels or anywhere else I could fly and deal.
RE: Windshield Sun Screen
Installed the shades on our RT210. Pulled the RT out of the garage today, faced it into a bright, June Oklahoma sun and pulled the new windshield shades.
These puppies work better than I had hoped. They pretty well do away with the need to pull the front curtains for privacy when camped. And, I was pleasantly surprised to discover their refectivity was good but the opacity of the shade was an extra benefit. They will really beat the heat.
Also, I made covers for all the windows on the unit as per Roger's instruction opn his site. I tried to improve on them a bit by adding a backboard using picture frame matting. It was a great idea and I got a mat color that matched the RT insides. But it was not a practical concept and made mounting a bit more difficult. I did make a tab extending from the shades at the top using brown duct tape. Just a tab a couple inches long to assist in installing and removing the blockers. Since I made them for all the windows they do take up some space, but I am simply going to lay them flat beneath the twin bed mattress. Spread them out and it only adds about half an inch to the thinkness of the mattress and the center of this stuff is essentially bubble wrap, so I can sleep on air!
Thanks to Roger for introducing me to the Reflectix product and to ibthebest for the screen mention and source.
Anyone traveling or living in an area with hot summer days, or just a lot of sun, will really appreciate both of these mods.
RE: Windshield Sun Screen
Thanks, ibthebest! I went ahead and ordered on Wednesday and doggone if they won't be delivered tomorrow (Friday)! Apparently made in Laredo or at least shipped from there, since the UPS shipping track showed them picked up in Laredo. I suspected at least a week or ten days. I think they said allow two weeks on the site. Anyhow, I am going to Lowes tomorrow and buy the reflective product Roger used to make covers for his windows. I want to "sunproof" our RT, mainly to protect our dog when we leave her in the RT in warmer climes.
Leaving the front windows cracked, the RT overhead windows covered and the curtains pulled with both rear windows open and using the Fantastic works well in moderate heat, but we love our Sally Ann and simply won't leave her if the ambient temperature in the RT is going to be too high. These windshield screens and Roger's conversion idea will, I am sure, make a significant difference in ambient temps. Thanks for the great ideas!
RE: Windshield Sun Screen
Curious about these. They look really neat. Questions:
1. Do they run on a glide rail at the top and bottom, or are they simply attached at the sides of the windshield and pulled over to the center?
2. Does the reflectivity sort of equate to the old foil faced, foldable gadgets many of us carry that are generic and fit poorly, but really do reflect the sun pretty well.
RE: The "Rockies"
We had a 96 RT 190 for eight years and traveled once or twice a year in NM, CO, WY, UT, MT mountains. 318 engine. Never had a single problem. I loved that engine. And that Roadtrek! Enjoy the Rockies.
